Superman #6

Recently, an onslaught of creatures has targeted Superman, nearly destroying Metropolis in the process. And now...Superman is helping them finish the job?! Guest-starring Supergirl!

As soon as the Superman duplicate drops Billy McCoy to his death, Supergirl manages to save him. After taking McCoy to safety, Supergirl is appalled at how his cousin would kill a human after saying that he considered himself a member of the human race. She just wanted to talk to him about the clone of his she encounted, but it looks like he has more to answer for. The duplicate adjusts his language to speak Kryptonian. He tells Supergirl that she was not supposed to come to Metropolis until the city’s conformation was furthered, and now she has forced him to act. He then blasts Supergirl with his heat vision. The helicopter crew records everything and Lois watches the events from her office, telling the helicopter crew to be careful. Supergirl and the Superman clone begin fighting across Metropolis, but the duplicate begins holding the advantage. Lois begs Superman to stop, and the duplicate suddenly complies, startling her. In space, the real Superman begins to recover and somehow, that is beginning to weaken the duplicate. Supergirl seizes the opportunity to fight back, while Superman discovers the link between him and the duplicate works both ways. Superman uses the link to access the duplicate’s memories and discovers that the duplicate’s existence started as nanotechnology created in the planet Jazuur. The nanotechnology was created to maintain Jazuur’s ecological, environmental, technical and anthropological balance. Later, Jazuur was attacked by the Collector of Worlds, who was interested in the technology. When the Collector stole Jazuur’s imperial city, the nanotechnology reconstructed it, along with the Jazuur themselves. The Collector of Worlds was interested in the nanotechnology because of its ability to reconstruct the city, believing it to be the secret to immortality and indestructibility. He wanted to incorporate it to his own biotechnical system. However, the Jazuur’s nanotechnology proved to be incompatible with the Collector’s own nanotechnology, so he destroyed the Jazuur’s imperial city. However, a small Jazuur nanite survived. Later, Superman entered the Collector’s ship and discovered the white armor that would become his new suit. As Superman finishes looking into the duplicate’s memories, he realizes why did the star charts could not trace where the aliens who attacked Metropolis came from: he brought the nanite that would become the Superman duplicate to Earth in the first place. The duplicate regains the advantage in his fight against Supergirl. Perry White, Izzy Izquierdo and Cat Grant watch everything from the Daily Planet and begin to think that maybe Billy McCoy was right to criticize Superman. Mayor Morrisroe is being evacuated from his office, and he begins to think that maybe he was wrong in believing in Superman. General Sam Lane prepares to send his K-Squadron against Superman, but first he makes a phone call to Lois, telling her about the air strike and that he is sending a private transport to evacuate her. Lois refuses, saying he is only going to endanger innocent lives, and ends the call. As Lois watches the news, the duplicate is about to deliver what is likely to be a final blow to Supergirl. However, the real Superman grabs the duplicate and holds him at midair, revealing to the people of Metropolis that the impostor is the one responsible for the alien attacks. The duplicate begins speaking in the strange language the other three aliens have been speaking, confirming Superman’s story. The military fighters approach to Metropolis, preparing to engage the duplicate, but Superman tells them not to, as their interference will only cause more destruction to the city. Superman takes the duplicate and flies away from the city. General Lane agrees to call off the attack. Meanwhile, Billy McCoy begins a new broadcast in which he apologizes to Superman for trying to find fault in his actions. Superman takes the duplicate to the Arctic, where the two begin fighting. Realizing that he must have taken the nanite to Earth five years ago, Superman tells the duplicate that he now understands what the duplicate is trying to do: since the nanites were created to establish and maintain a symbiotic partnership to Jazuur, the duplicate is trying to recreate that symbiotic relationship using Earth and Superman. When Superman used his heat vision to stop the tank full of terrorists, the nanites assimilated the power of his optic fire and merged with a host body to create the fire monster. Superman believes that the explosion onboard the Collector’s ship must have warped the nanites’s primary directive and analytical functions. That is why the nanites thought that a being of fire could meld with a city created in what they thought was Superman’s image, and that is why the nanites cannot except they are flawed. Superman also reveals that when he used his optic and auditory powers to save some people trapped in the subway station, the nanites assimilated those powers to create a monster that everyone, except him, could see or hear. He also reminds the duplicate about the time the nanites copied his cold breath when he put down a fire the nanites caused to destroy his first apartment building. The nanites also used a friend of Superman’s to create the ice monster. After finishing his statement, Superman tells the duplicate that all he has done is create a Superman that uses his powers to cause fear and hate. Saying that he never wants to see a Superman like that ever again, Superman destroys the duplicate. Then, Supergirl finds Superman and asks him to explain everything that has happened. Superman tells her he will do so in another time; for now, he wants to know about the clone she mentioned. Later, McCoy starts another broadcast in which he says that Superman threw the duplicate’s remains into the sun. In the hospital, Clark visits Heather Kelley, who is recovering from the nanites’s possession. Clark apologizes to Heather for putting her in danger, but Heather tells him not to worry, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Heather tells Clark that she is not the girl meant for him and she is fine with that. She expresses hope that Clark will one day find the right girl for him. And as Clark and Heather talk, Lois stands outside the room.